I have been sitting here for quite some time trying to think of something profound to say. But the truth is, i have nothing to say. I have no great bit of wisdom to pass on to the masses. My mind is not blank, but is full of meaningless drivel that i would not presume to impose upon my eager readers. I will, however, attempt to bring to life a question that has been raised by a few who have read my essay. The question is, "am i advocativing pre-marital sex?"

It does seem that pre-marital sex is not really banned in the Bible for men. But times have changed. There is now a (supposed) equality of the sexes. So we will assume that whatever is okay for a man is okay for a woman. (this does not mean that we, as women, WANT to do every thing that is okayed for men to do, but that it is possible)

It has been said that fornication is often mentioned and heavily discouraged by God (or the writers of the Bible, depending on how you look at it). While this is true, fornication is nearly always in reference to pagan worship or whoring. Both of these big no-nos in jewish society. And although we no longer live in Jewish society, i think these two no-nos can still apply.

If we turn our attentions to stories and what they tell us about pre-marital sex, we can come away with some interesting pictures. Some, like the story of Esther, show us a positive outcome of sex. Others like David and Bathesheba give us negative ones. But there is a HUGE difference in the stories. David gets into trouble for having sex with Bathesheba, not because he is married but because SHE is married. SO what would have happened if she wasn't married? then what? would he have just let her become part of his haram? would he have even married her? would he have needed to??

The thing is, though, even if you let yourself believe that pre-marital sex is okayed in the Bible, you are still left with real life. In real life pre-marital sex is dangerous. Yes, i know there are millions of ways to prevent this and that...but you could end up with any number of STIs (the old term is STDs) or worse! you (if you are female) could end up pregnant!!! YIKES! So for me, the whole issue of "will i or won't i" comes back to, what is going to be the best for me physically? and WIll it effect my relationship with God positively or negatively?? Those are the questions that have me chosing a life of abstinence.